Easter!

Our forecast for yesterday promised a rainy, yucky day, and while there certainly were rainy parts, we actually had a fairly lovely day! (Big sighs of relief for egg hunters everywhere, I'm sure!)

We happened to be visiting a church yesterday that was really big and had quite a grand service. I adored singing all the big Easter anthems (in a crowd so big that I could actually sing out and not be heard!) and listening to a piano solo that made me drop my jaw. Such talent! (Ahhhh Bekah. If you had only applied yourself...well, let's be honest. You probably still wouldn't be that good!) Anyway. It was a wonderful way to start the day.

We had a little bit of time in between church and the Freelan family lunch, so we exchanged our Easter baskets here at home. (I had grand plans for coloring eggs and all manner of things, but it was much too busy a weekend. Next year, right? Nevertheless, we kept our basket-exchanging tradition.)

Ryan's basket for me was perfect. I've been joking (not joking) that I'd like to have an open/closed sign to hang on my office door so when I'm in "office hours" I can feel like a real place. He remembered this conversation and found REVERSIBLE CHALKBOARDS that I can use to write open and closed! (And I can use them for other purposes as needed, too!) How perfect is THIS????

Also, props for presentation!

 Also featured in my basket? Chocolates!!!!!!!

Ryan's gift was a bit lame in looks, so I tried to spice it up with a scavenger hunt plan I found on Pinterest! It definitely added to the experience.

The clues were hidden around the house in plastic eggs:

And he had a good time hunting for them!

(His helper had a good time as well.)

He found the prize!!

Funny story about his gift.

We are repainting our (badly peeling) porch this spring and wanted to replace our house numbers while we do that project. We think the ones out there now are hard to see, and isn't visibility kind of the POINT of house numbers? Anyway. We had looked at several kits at the store quite a while ago, so I went to the store this past week and labored over them all, trying to figure out which one would be the best. I finally picked one and came home. (He did not know I had been to the store that day.) That evening, we went there together to shop and he said, "Hey let's go look at house numbers!" I stood and held my breath, alternately terrified that he would purchase some/that he would hate the ones I got. Fortunately he did NOT make a purchase and he had no unkind words toward my choice.

Just in case the sunshine was temporary, we ran out to take our official Easter outfit photo. Now for those of you who caught the end of the shuffle yesterday, I know you're expecting Ryan to be in this:

I'm sorry. He did not buy it. But I think he still looks awfully handsome.

We spent the Easter meal with my family this year, and there were just five of us:

I feel like I've been awkwardly photoshopped into this family selfie.

This was Mom's first hostessing with the mostessing after her surgery, and I thought she did a great job! Good food, pretty flowers, great day!

And after lunch was over, Julie and I went out to the "pet cemetery" where all our dearly departed cats were laid to rest. Kaegan is apparently not the most well-loved in the plot. LOL!!

After we left my parents', we went to Ryan's family Easter, but we were so late, the meal and egg hunt had finished. We stayed for a while to talk, and then we came home.

Hope you all had great Easter Sundays too!!